All posts tagged Fifa world cup

Flags of World Cup nations fluttered from cafes above the normally brimming streets of Al Manara Square on Sunday night, but the shops down below were shuttered and sidewalks empty in Ramallah – seat of the Palestinian government and a nightlife hotspot.

But behind a half-closed garage door at the entrance of Baladna café, a battery of flat screens, nargilla smoke, card games and fruitshakes beckoned. Read More »

FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, is no stranger to controversy. Allegations of bribery, corruption and vote-rigging have swirled around the organization for years, many of them recently centered on Qatar and its winning bid for the 2022 World Cup. Jerome Champagne, a French former diplomat and FIFA executive, wants the chance to right the ship. Read More »

Qatar is pledging labor-law reform in response to what critics have called systemic exploitation that traps thousands of foreign workers in low-wage jobs and squalid living conditions. Human rights groups however said the moves fell short of full protection for migrant workers, given the lack of a timeline for passage and lack of clarity on enforcement. Read More »

Qatar is compiling a short-list of important projects and plans to set up a public investment management unit in response to possible cost overruns and delays connected to a local building glut ahead of the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in 2022. Read More »

If Dubai has the 2020 World Expo to build for, its oil-rich neighbour Abu Dhabi has its development plans too. And Doha of course is hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Not surprisingly then, construction activity in the GCC region has recovered strongly since the 2009 crisis, HSBC says. Read More »

Foreign laborers in Qatar are living in squalor and working long hours at wages lower than those they were promised, according to a new report by the International Trade Union Confederation, a workers’ rights group. Read More »

Qatar is yet again under the microscope over its labor record as it prepares to host the FIFA Wold Cup in 2022, this time in a report by the International Monetary Fund following a staff visit last month. Read More »

Perhaps, the only story that could further drag Qatar’s World Cup reputation through the mud would be the unimaginable scenario where a soccer player is being held against his will in the country, living in destitute conditions, over a labour dispute with his employer.

That would be too far-fetched, though, surely? Well, no, actually. This seems to be the latest labour story to come out of Qatar.

A model of the Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi, which is set to open in 2015

On the surface, it would seem like countries in the Persian Gulf are doing all they can to encourage free-spending tourists to boost their economies and help diversify away from those finite hydrocarbons.

Abu Dhabi is building a cultural island dedicated to museums with the Louvre set to open a branch there in 2015 and Dubai is bidding for the Expo 2020. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is encouraging private investment in Mecca and Qatar is set to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022, despite the to-ing and fro-ing over calendar timing of the event.

However, dig a little deeper and not enough is being done, according to consultants Booz & Co. In a report released this week, the consultants are fairly damning of Gulf efforts: “An insufficient assortment of tourism offerings, spotty marketing, and sporadic investment in the sector have limited tourism’s contribution to these economies.” Read More »